Back in 2022, some angry truckers in Canada unintentionally ran a real-life experiment in international

trade. This was that big convoy protesting Canada's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, requiring

truckers to be vaccinated to pass freely across the U.S. border. They drove the rigs into

Ottawa, the Canadian capital, and basically shut it down.

Here's the police chief Peter slowly at the time.

This is a siege. It is something that is different in our democracy than I've ever experienced

in my life. The protests, though, wasn't just in Ottawa. The truckers also blockaded the

Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit. A quarter of all trade between Canada and the U.S. goes over that bridge.

Truck driver Jeff Wakefield was stranded on the U.S. side of the border during the blockade.

He said the jam also rippled out to another nearby border crossing.

I got a friend down there.

Four hours, he's moved a half a mile.

Now the blockade is supposedly down there blocking that off.

So sarnia closed, this close, where do you go?

The other option is you want to run 700 miles out or out and go to Buffalo,

cross and come all the way back to Windsor.

That's the only other option.

This was a huge disruption to cross-border trade, and some of the businesses hit most immediately

were car companies. With parts not able to get to the plants that needed them, factories on both

sides of the border cut entire production shifts and slowed their operations. The blockade,

which only lasted one week, ultimately cost auto workers and car companies some $300 million by one estimate.

It was a demonstration of just how dependent the industry is on trade across the U.S. Canada

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